Now this is what you call "FUCKED UP!"

It wouldn't take much to rebuild their crappy economy. So this seems an easy claim to make.

How about lifting their sanctions? That might help. Cuba has a shitty economy, how about lifting those... it might help.

With their oil resources, their economy was doing just fine before sanctions. A little debt from the Iran / Iraq war, but nothing taking back Kuwait wouldnt fix.

But as the Bush family has oil interests in Kuwait, it was out of the question.

A McDonald's and a 7-11 on every block......
I can't wait until we can get into Iraq and start shooting some Iraqi porn........

one could argue that restoring peace and stability in the region would have a positive effect on our economy and more importantly, promote growth in eastern european countries by opening new markets that otherwise would not exist.

we will give them 3 chickens and a goat... they will be fine

It's just an outrage how many people don't have jobs here in the US so many people need financial help right here in the US.

Can you remember the last time he gave a speech about that?

All he has been doing is traveling all over raising money.

And talking about 2 things.

1)Write me a blank check for a homeland security office that I can do what I want.

2)Write me a blank check to do what I want with iraq

Yes your wrong. Blaming Bush for the economy is like blaming a current army general for Vietnam.

The economy was coming down when clinton was in office. The internet boom was built on faulty business plans.

The seeds of enron, worldcom, etc were planted in the 90s.

Throw in the 911 shit, and that brings us to where we are now.

ColKurtz you are right about that but common it would help if he spoke about the economy and show people hes trying to do something about it.

Instead all we hear is donate money, write blank checks....

if you know anything about macro economics, you would know that the economy goes through natural cycles and has very little to do with the president or economic policy, nor is it something that can be turned around on a whim.

however, attacking dictators is a great distraction that makes everyone feel better about themselves.

i am just hoping we can see more of those missiles with the cams in the nose cones... those things kick ass!

Hmmm I wonder how many of the current cabinet have ties with Enron, Worldcom, etc...

Cheney ran Haliburton. Which traded illegally with Iraq. Whitman owns stock in every major chemical corporation in America... and runs the EPA.



I wonder where our interests lie.

The crooks thats fucked up the economy, now run the country. And you expect them to fix it?

not really, the truth of the matter is our economy grew at an inflated rate, companies were trading at 100's X earnings and people were still buying. An economy taking a spill generally happens when when no one is dumb enough to by stocks at their current valuations. There are more sellers than buyers. You throw in 9/11 and all of a sudden you have a barrier to growth. People and businesses are reluctant to spend and grow. This is where war comes in. War removes that barrier and we rebuild the economy through expansion and increased spending at the corporate/institutional level.

My friend's cat's breath smells like cat food...

i would certainly trust businessmen to run the economy over idealists trying to find some kind of socialist utopia

Visa will take care of the US economy

They are making big deals about Martha Stewart for some silly gain she made that really did not hurt anyone and the whole thing is less then 250K

While Enron (we all know the president as well as others are involved) hurt so many people

Enron hurt investors, employees etc.

Where is everyone on that?

nothing.......

I am not saying he can do anything about the economy but whats wrong is,

While so many american people are having a hard time making ends meet and while the country is fighting a serious terror was he takes 30 days vacation (and comes back on a friday before a weekend so he had off till tuesday!)

All he talks about is give me money for homeland office and shit and every week in a different twon raising money

Come on its not right

It seems to me that helping rebuild Iraq will be good for the economy, if your measure of the economy is jobs. Any help we give them is bound to mean somebody will have to make something, pack something, haul something, or load it on a ship or plane.

Enron was not a big deal?
last i checked, people were going to prison for it and a whole package of laws were passed implementing new accounting standards and accountability for CEO's. Arthur Anderson Accounting closed its doors which was one of the "Big 8" accounting firms in the world.

thats the way it should be.

Why is Martha Stuart and he whole insider trading scandal any less serious? it is the same as everything else that is undermining confidence in the market

I agree with you about the cycles. The President needs to talk about rebuilding the economy and using our tax dollars to spur investment.

The reason we dont come out of the haze is because John Q Public still believes that the economy is shit. That war he's talking about not only will get him re-elected, it will make us feel godd about oursleves.

People have to live I was in the city today and its fucked up people standing on corners looking for jobs I mean everyday people have expenses

Its sad regardless of everything and thats it

i firmly beleive that if there was no 9/11 Bush would be a VERY unpopular guy right now. However, he and his team are some of the brighter politicians in existence. They have survived every attack the democrats have thrown their way and his ratings are still high.

going into Iraq will be a long, drawn out thing with a lot of success, handshakes and international support of a new and better government and his ratings will still be high. just like Afghanistan.

if he needs another boogeyman to fight or dragon to slay before elections - there are plenty out there.

right now the whole civilized world is in a state of "what will happen next" which is a barrier for economic growth. You remove that barrier, create stability in the middle east and spending/expansion will continue. Heres a simple question: Are we more likely to build a skyscraper now, or after we create a sense of stability in the middle east?

look at it the other way...

when was that not true? when was that time in history when people looked around and said "you know, things are fuckin great"?

its never happened.

its like cleaning a dirty wall... the cleaner it gets, you still only see the dirty spots. you never notice that it is 22.3% cleaner than when you started.

the president of the united states cannot wave a magic wand and improve the economy and create jobs and make your life super peachy keen. only you can. sometimes its harder, sometimes its easier.

trut me if you where in NYC today you would be so outraged its not even funny

http://www.wewantwork.com

The above guys have people looking for job on street corners in the city with signs on them

When you see that in person its very upsetting, I wish I could help them with a job I just can't I did get one guy an interview at a bank thou

I dont blame people for wanting work and doing anything to get a job. There are some major issues affecting the US workforce:

Many jobs are tech-related and the workforce needs to adapt to this fact.

People have to be able to change careers

People have to be willing to move

Corporate officers need to be held accountable for their actions

Sorry - just some ramblings but I think they are relevant.

very true smash!

i wouldnt be outraged because i have never structured my life around the idea that security and happiness in life can be found in working for others... or that someone owes me something. I have never blamed others or the economy. i have learned to blame myself, which is one of my greatest strengths in life.

if you blame everything around you... then you have to change everything around you to improve your own life. if you blame yourself, you can change immediately and take control of your own destiny.

i have been broke plenty of times. i just lost almost everything i had to my name in a failed venture.

the reason i am making money today and doing well, is because it never occured to me to stand on a street corner.

look its sad to see people stand on corners

Gonads and strife

yes, i agree. like you, i think they should be arrested for that.

Gonads and strife

The people here are mostly singles with a few more options than the people that are let go of in places like Houston. Demographics say that people in the other cities are more likely to have kids to support. Those are the ones I truly feel sorry for.

In response to someones post earlier that said Bush can't really do anything to help the economy... Yes he can!

Let me ask you this, do you think the misappropriations that Dennis Kozlowski from Tyco, The Enron gang, and Worldcom were serious enough to cause the firing of thousands of Americans?

I don't think so. Tyco was doing well. No layoffs in sight. Until the Ken Starr like probings began.

Bush needs to slow these BS probings down. Martha Stewart even?!?! C'mon maaan! The nerds that are starting these investigations and crating media buzz are finally starting to get a lil attention so they are lining executives up like dominoes.

It has to stop, it is killing our already hurting economy.

Bush knows how to declare a war. He has never declared that a war is over. Iraq, Afghanistan are recent examples. Who knows tomorrow. He must be having a new country in his kind for a war. Fuck the economy. He is getting his salary regularly.

It took ten days into his "office" before I realized the guy was an idiot (and hell.. I'm slow!)... so comes are no surprise to see the current state.

I only hope there is some consideration to human life on both side in his "wars".

I agree, the US economy is totally messed and has been in state of denial for some time. Truth is, there is no "expert" on the economy in the Admin, - tis only a "war committee"... so no surprise there either.

I think US citizens are entitled to better "leadership" than this... tis a damned disgrace - shit.. and ya gotta pay for this???

Peace!

Stealthy


Thats really weired
My dog's breath also smells like cat food!!
I wonder whats up with that?

They are getting the Enron people as you speak and will be getting more... My understanding of it is... Enron is just a little harder because it is lot more complex...the way Enron was set up... all the partnerships. just hold your shorts..

what's wrong with you helping those people..standing in the corner...go get one bring him home with you....or load up your car with food..go back to town and give it away... don't just stand on your soap box and talk about WHAT SOMEONE ELSE IS NOT DOING. why don't you do something?

Heh!!!

ok man. I could tell by your earlier thread selling your benz that you "had fun with for the summer" that you are making some MEGA dollars.

I don't know how long you have been wealthy but people with money tend to get soft and forget what it was likd to not have money, if they even knew at all. If you get sad seeing people standing on the street corner in AMERICA, then you should come with me next time I go to a third world country.

I was in Nigeria where people were working hard as shit for 5 dollars a month! All of the city of Lagos is a traffic jam 24 hours a day and there are little kids, women, and crippled people reaching in the car window BEGGING for shit. I saw this one mothafucka that had half of his face eaten away by this disease prevalent in Africa called Yaws. HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A FUCKING MOUTH! PLUS HE WAS BLIND!

I went down there feeling sorry for muthafuckas and all of that. I stayed in a village for a few weeks and I was passing out money. Seeing "poor" african villagers for the first time could make you sad. But after a few weeks living with them, you'll realize that those african villagers are nothing but some beggin ass niggas.

even in an african village, you can still get lazy and expect a handout if there is someone around willing to give it. You take one of those poor nigerians and stick them on the SAME street corner in New York City where you're feeling sorry for those people, and watch that Nigerian driving a new car, living in a brand new home, and bringing at least one of his family members to the US withing 2-3 years.

I don't feel sorry at all for a healthy individual who is standing on a street corner in America. If he is healthy and has half a brain, he could EASILY get a place to stay and some food within hours.

Money has made you soft Escortbiz. Soft as a newborn baby's ass......

Two years ago, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life and I had a mouth to feed. Now I'm sitting my fat ass in this recliner chair pushing porn. God Bless America!

And time to go to the YMCA and hit that treadmill........peace....

hahahaa... i was looking for that thread because i forgot if it was Escortbiz or not that posted it

... looked like a $150,000.00 car to me.
no wonder it has to be sold.
probably just doesnt hold enough boxes of canned goods
and blankets for distribution to the homeless

Guys im doing well don't worry about me

Again its not right that so many are out of work, standing on corners and stuff. There is only so much I can help these people.

Martha Stewart is in trouble for insider trading. It's illegal. I'm glad they're taking her down for it. Maybe she's being made an example of, but I think that it's good to see SOME peope going down for it.

Only so much you can do, eh? Like what?

How about this: Buy yourself a nice car that doesn't cost an arm and a leg that's gonna last you for the next 2 years. We're gonna go on the theory here of the $150k car that you had "for the summer". So let's say you get yourself a nice new Jag for $30k or so instead, and you've got the rest of that $150k (about $120k now) to "do something".

Sit your ass down and spend a day calling around to the local temporary workforce places (like Manpower) and find out what they need. Data entry people? People trained in MS Word and Excel? People who just know how to type? Ask what their finder's fee is.
Last I checked, it was about $150 (in FL anyway) to file papers for a non-profit corp.

Look around a bit, and lease out an empty building. It doesn't have to be in the slums - you'll spend extra money getting security for the place - and it doesn't have to be in a gated industrial park. Something as simple as a vacant firehouse in a suburb will do.
Get some computers - whatever's cheaper, buying them straight from the manufacturer or building them yourself. Let's say about 6 to start.
Now you've spent about $5k on the deposit for the building and the computers, and let's say another $30k on the car, so you've got another $115k to go. Let's plop $15k of it into an account to pay for the utilities and lease for a while. Call Microsoft and tell them you're opening a training center for the underpriveleged and unemployed, and they'll send you full software for all 6 of those computers - free.

So now you've got a building, 6 computers, and software. You can't do this alone - stick an ad in the paper for displaced tech workers (god knows there are plenty of them out there) to come in and do training. You'll need 5 of 'em. The sixth person you want to hire will have experience dealing with the local social services, will know where all of the local food banks, goodwills, salvation army stores, and shelters are. If she doesn't definitely know where these places are and/or have contacts in them, she'll at least know where to find the information.
Even better - get these people to come in on a volunteer basis. High school or college students who need an internship or experience "in the field", something to look good on their resumes (and this would be a big gold star on their resumes), retired people... even your computer-savvy friends.

So now you've still barely dented the $100k you've got left. Go get yourself 5 of those people you saw standing on the corner. Find out how many of them actually *want* a job. You're going to have to spend the most time doing this, because standing on a corner makes pretty damn good money.
You bring 'em in. Your 'concierge' worker immediately gets them in touch with all of the local social services that can benefit them. Food stamps, emergency housing assistance, emergency utility assistance, food banks, etc. If they're homeless, you set them up with a shelter. See if the qualify for unemployment, medicaid, etc.

Once that's done, the training begins. Whatever Manpower needed, you'll start cultivating. As little as one week of training could give a person enough computer skills to get a damn good job doing data entry. Two weeks, even better. As one of them is trained well enough, your concierge or another volunteer takes the person down to the goodwill or salvation army and gets them some nice clothes, buys them a haircut, and goes with them to Manpower (or one of the other Temp Hire places you called). If they get the job, good! They stay in touch with you for at least the first two weeks of the job. If they need transportation to/from the job, you can also find volunteers for that or simply buy some bus tickets for them. You help them out with whatever they need those first two weeks and let them know that after that, you're still there if they need you - for more advanced training, for someone to straighten out issues with the local social services, etc.

If they don't get the job, your concierge is there with them to find out exactly why. Bring them back to the center, and fix whatever it is that caused them not to be hired. Maybe they're not strong enough in this program or that. Maybe their interviewing skills need some work. Whatever. Work with them until they're ready to go back and get the job this time.

When they get the job, you get a finder's fee. Run a few people through the program and get them jobs, then apply for a grant and any local social program small-business funds you can. You're running an Adult Rehabilitation Program. While your 6 workers are handing your current 5 rehabilitees, you're developing stronger relationships with the Temp-Hire places, and even contacting local companies directly about getting your rehabilitees hired. You settle on a hiring price - which is higher because you can give them workers specifically trained for what they need - and you take $2 per hour off of the top to go back into the Center and the rest goes to the worker. After the worker has survived their "probationary" period at the company (usually a month to three months), they get the other $2 you've been holding back and they're on their own.

You *can* do most of this with volunteers. You'd be amazed how many of the sweet, well-mannered, and utterly patient little ladies down at the local retirement home would love to come out and help with something like this. Want to make it even better so you'll get more grants and/or community support? Bring in women - single mothers, women on welfare, etc. to get trained. Set up one part of the Center with some donated toys and another one of those little old grandmas to watch their children while the moms get trained.

As you grow, you can branch into other areas. Train guys to terminate cables and do simple networking. Satellite installations. Cable installations. Get your own personally-trained 3-person team to go out and pre-wire houses for phone and internet. Work with the local construction teams and builders to get a deal where you do all of their new houses. This 3-person team alone can bring you a lot of fucking money. When they're not wiring new houses, they're re-wiring older houses or wiring up local hotels and businesses for internet. (The hotels pay damn good money to have their rooms wired for data.)

It's not the people holding signs in DC yelling about the war that help the unemployed get jobs or help turn the economy around - it's the "evil rich guys" - like YOU (yes, if you're making more than $70k per year you qualify as a greedy, selfish "evil" rich man) - that make a difference.

You *can* do something - it's just how much you're *willing* to do and how far out of your comfort zone you're willing to step in order to do it.

Bush is asking for money ?

The only person I have heard that is asking for money is that DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR DAVIS in California..

Bush has nothing to do with the cost of living in New York. Of course, there is going to be a larger amount of unemployed people to go along with the inflated taxes, property costs and property taxes etc.. I know I could not afford New York and I know my sister-in-law pays more than double what I pay in property taxes ....

This is Soooooooo very true... He's worse than Clinton was.

Fuck do you REALLY think he's going to do any of above.. Why hell NO he's going to set RAT there in his chair and complain how Bush put these people out of work. And now is going to take money...build bomb's and missle's... were that money should be given to the poor... So they can buy some more CRACk (granted now all poor smoke CRACK). The thought has not entered his mind...if Bush does not build those bomb's and missle's... he might be the one standing on that street corner...and not looking for a job...but a safe Cave to live in.

Bush is getting funnier and funnier with every appearance.

Most Americans wake up every day embarassed knowing that this man is their "leader"